Archive for the ‘Entertainment’ Category

We are calling on Cuba to unleash the potential of 11 million Cubans by ending unnecessary restrictions on their political, social, and economic activities. In that spirit, we should not allow U.S. sanctions to add to the burden of Cuban citizens that we seek to help. – President Barack Hussein Obama, December 17, 2014

Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it. – George Satayana

Just hours before President Obama landed Sunday in Cuba for his historic visit to the communist island, Cuban authorities arrested more than 50 dissidents who were marching to demand improved human rights.

Members of the group, known as the Ladies in White, are used to the routine. They march each Sunday after Mass at a church in a suburb of Havana called Miramar and usually get arrested and detained for hours or days.

Some in the group thought Cuban authorities would back off this Sunday out of respect for Obama’s visit. Berta Soler, one of the founding members who has been marching since 2003, said while walking to the church Sunday morning that maybe they would be allowed to protest without getting arrested.

“Everything looks good so far,” she said.

Despite dozens of international reporters in town for Obama’s trip, the group was quickly rounded up in buses and police cars.

“For us, it’s very important that we do this so President Obama knows that there are women here fighting for the liberty of political prisoners,” Soler said before being arrested. “And he needs to know that we are here being repressed simply for exercising our right to express ourselves and manifest in a non-violent way.”

Obama’s three-day trip to Cuba is to highlight the new relationship between the Cold War foes. After more than five decades of political and economic isolation, the two nations announced in December 2014 that they would re-establish diplomatic relations. Embassies have since reopened in Havana and Washington, U.S. cellphones can be used in Cuba, U.S. airlines are planning direct flights to the island, and several U.S. companies have struck deals to trade with Cuba.

Obama is expected to embrace those changes during his trip, but the issue of human rights has been the most difficult negotiating point leading up to his visit. Secretary of State John Kerry was supposed to visit the island ahead of Obama’s trip but canceled because of disagreements over whom he could meet with.

The White House has said that Obama will meet with a group of dissidents on Tuesday, but several have said they’re unsure whether they’ll be able to attend.

Guillermo Farinas, a leading voice in Cuba’s civil rights movement who is part of the group that could meet Obama, is camped out at a friend’s house this week because he said Cuban authorities have ordered him to be on house arrest. He said many other dissidents like him are being blockaded in their homes ahead of Obama’s visit. Because of that, he said Obama has a “moral responsibility” to strongly criticize Cuba’s human rights record and push the government to improve before the U.S. further expands its relationship with Cuba.

“The most important thing for us is that President Obama doesn’t allow the Cuban government to use his visit to create an image of complicity with the actions of the totalitarian regime,” Farinas said.

The Cuban government declined to comment on Farinas’ claim that he and other dissidents were under house arrest.

Don’t hold your breath, Senor Farinas.

Didn’t you know? Being a Marxist is cool.

Just ask the Liberal American Millennials walking around with their Che Guevara t-shirts on.

They remember Che differently than I am sure that you and those of your countrymen that are seeking freedom from tyranny do.

If these members of the “Young and Dumb” had actually read a book, they would burn those stupid t-shirts.

Cuban children are taught in state-run schools that Che was a doctor, even though he had no medical degree.

They are taught that he was a kind soul who cared for the poor and the oppressed, and a brave guerrilla leader who helped to liberate the downtrodden Cuban People from the oppressive tyrant Batista.

In his biography of Che, Fontova quotes a Cuban exile who is identified by the pseudonym of “Charlie Bravo”

I’d loved to have seen those Sorbonne and Berkeley and Berlin student protesters with their ‘groovy’ Che posters try their ‘anti-authority’ grandstanding in Cuba at the time. I’d love to have seen Che and his goons get their hands on them. They’d have gotten a quick lesson about the ‘fascism’ they were constantly complaining about—and firsthand. They would have quickly found themselves sweating and gasping from forced labor in Castro’s and Che’s concentration camps, or jabbed in the butt by ‘groovy’ bayonets when they dared slow down and perhaps getting their teeth shattered by a ‘groovy’ machine-gun butt if they adopted the same attitude in front of Che’s militia as they adopted in front of those campus cops.

In the instruction to that book, Fontova writes that,

If Cuban Americans strike you as too passionate, over the top, even a little crazy, there is a reason. Practically every day, we turn on our televisions or go out to the street only to see the image of the very man who trained the secret police to murder our relatives—thousands of men, women, and boys. This man committed many of these murders with his own hands. And yet we see him celebrated everywhere as the quintessence of humanity, progress, and compassion.

So, while their President and his family were jetting to Cuba, on Air Force One, on the American Taxpayer’s dime, celebrating the “Progressive Freedom” that only Marxism can bring (that’s sarcasm, boys and girls), America’s Che Worshippers were back home, wearing their Che T-shirts, brandishing posters proclaiming American Businessman, Entrepreneur, and Leading Republican Primary Candidate Donald J. Trump a “fascist”, and a modern “Hitler”, while blocking roads, jumping on people’s cars, and marching lockstep on the streets of New York City, in scenes reminiscent of the Cuban Revolution.

Today marks the Five Year Anniversary of the death of a Mid-South legend, larger-than-life Radio Personality John “Bad Dog” McCormack. Here is a tribute which I wrote, upon hearing of his passing. He is still truly missed.

If, when we’re standing before God, the amount of good we do with our lives, and the amount of joy and happiness that we are able to bring to this world of pain is brought up, then, Thursday afternoon, the Pearly Gates shook with the infectious laughter of one giant of a man.

John “Bad Dog” McCormack lost his long battle with AML late Thursday Afternoon at Methodist University Hospital in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. Bad Dog was an on-air personality for 22 years at WEGR Rock 103, a Classic Rock Station.

Bad Dog began as a part of the Wake-up Crew with Tim Spencer and Bev Hart. Dog was basically a 14-year-old kid in a man’s body. He was a natural-born prankster, and became known for his creation of “The Twilight Phone”, an anonymous prank call he would make to unsuspecting citizens.

In one memorable call, he impersonated an Apartment Manager, calling a guy who dumped his fiance’s dead pet Piranhas into the apartment lake, claiming that they came back to life and the poor sap had to reimburse the apartment $2,8000 for draining and restocking the lake. And then, there was Bad Dog”s possibly most famous call, where he talked to an older gentleman named Mr. Lannum, impersonating a collector attempting to collect on a past-due cable bill. Mr. Lannum went ballistic, cussing a blue streak that is still talked of in hushed tones to this day, 20 years later:

When he finally clued the individuals in to whom they had been talking to, each one of them eventually forgave him, because, after all, it was Bad Dog.

Another routine that Bad Dog came up with, was remarkable. In a city known for racial polarization, he came up with the idea of numbering their show’s Black listeners, thinking that actual black listeners would be few and far between. Well, Bad Dog received a big surprise.

The routine became very popular among Memphis’ Black Community, as people called in to talk to Bad Dog. He would make up a hilarious “oath” for the listener to say, and from then on, whenever this individual would call in to talk about the subject of the day, they would self-identify as Black Listener Number So-and-So.Everyone loved Bad Dog.

However, the most incredible thing that this man accomplished during his time with us started when he, Spencer, and Hart decided to begin a yearly Radiothon in support of St. Jude Hospital’s Ronald McDonald House.

Over the last 20 years, Bad Dog and his co-workers have raised over $7 million dollars to help build and maintain the refuge for cancer-stricken kids and their families, so they could have some semblance of normal life while they undergo treatment at St. Jude.

Bad Dog McCormack was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia in late October 2009. He was still working mornings, though his new partner was Ric Chetter. Clear Channel Communications, in their infinite wisdom, had split up the popular Wake Up Crew in November of 2006, firing Newsperson Bev Hart, and, eventually moving Rock 103 Program Director Tim Spencer to mid-days.

Bad Dog continued to work as he underwent treatment, as he felt that this was the best medicine for him and was what God had called him to do. His courage in the face of his own mortality was an inspiration to the entire Mid-South, as his barrel-house laugh continued to reverberate through the car speakers of the Mid-South every morning. He also continued to work the annual Rock103 Radiothon, letting nothing stand in his way of helping the kids.

Bad Dog underwent a bone marrow transplant in November of 2010. He seemed to be doing better, and, in December, an online poll of Memphians voted him The Most Noteworthy Memphian of the Year.

On February 10-11th, Bad Dog was at the mic, around the clock, for the 20th Annual Rock103 Radiothon. When it was over, he announced that more Leukemia had been found. He remained upbeat, and said that this was just par for the course.

Meanwhile, Clear Channel Communications, again in its infinite wisdom, fired Ric Chetter, and moved Bad Dog and Tim Spencer to afternoons, while bringing in a morning show named Free Beer and Hot Wings, 5 guys syndicated out of the Great White North, whose humor about hockey games is about as relevant to the Mid-South as hunting moose. [The program bombed miserably.]

Bad Dog took this change in his usual good-natured stride, happy to be back with his old partner-in-crime, Tim.

Then, last Thursday, Bad Dog took a turn for the worse. He was rushed to Methodist University Hospital in Downtown Memphis, where he passed away from an aneurysm, brought about by his Leukemia.

In an interview with the Commercial Appeal, Bad Dog made this comment about his battle against Leukemia and his love for the kids at St. Jude:

When I see what they are going through, I have no reason to complain. They are so young and have so much pain. I’ve lived a blessed life. If I died tomorrow, I’d go with a smile on my face.

He also, in his usual big-hearted, gentle way, left a statement to be released after his death:

I have gone to be with God and he is holding me tightly and I am surrounded by many of the Ronald McDonald’s House kids. Do not say you have lost a friend… One is only lost when you don’t know where they are… you know where I am. I thank each and every one of you for your support and prayers. I love all of you and that will never go away. When you are having a bad day… think of my laugh or a Twilight phone or the time we met. None of us is guaranteed tomorrow, make every day great, be the spiritual leader of your family. May peace be with you. Your friend, Bad Dog.

John”Bad Dog” McCormack, 55, leaves behind his two sons, Buck and Tucker, a huge family, and thousands of fans.

As one of those fans, please allow me to say thank you, Bad Dog, for brightening up a lot of dreary mornings.

A sign currently [now 5 years ago] on display outside a local jewelry store says it all:

I can do more than anyone suspects. I pride myself on my versatility. It took 32 years of difficult parts, second leads, villains and juveniles. The Oscar changed the quality of the roles I was being offered. – Louis Gossett, Jr.

Affirmative action sprang out of the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement. It was intended to provide equal opportunities for members of minority groups and women in education and employment.

In 1961, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the first to use the term “affirmative action” in an Executive Order which forced government contractors to take “affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.” That Executive Order also established the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, now known as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

An institution or organization engages in Affirmative Action when it attempts to improve opportunities for historically excluded groups in American society by establishing a “quota system” to make up for perceived “past transgressions”.

These policies usually involve employment and education. In institutions of higher education, affirmative action involves admission policies that seek to provide equal access to education for those groups that have been historically excluded or underrepresented, such as women and minorities, at times, skipping over a more qualified candidate, in order to promote “Diversity”.

Needless to say, questions concerning the constitutionality of Affirmative Action has made the topic one of heated debate.

In the past several years, several states have discontinued their Affirmative Action Policies because Affirmative Action has become outdated, and causes a form of reverse discrimination by favoring one group over another, based on racial preference rather than academic or business achievement. Additionally, there is a concern that minority groups may be stigmatized and treated differently by peers and professors who may believe that the success of minority groups in higher education institutions is unearned.

Now, just as “Mr. Smith Came to Washington”, Affirmative Action is coming to Hollywood.

The Academy Awards or “Oscar” Awards is the paramount awards ceremony originating out of Hollywood, which is held on an annual basis. Over the years, it has become a mega-event, with everyone associated, directly or indirectly, with Hollywood eagerly awaiting for the handing out of the golden statues.

The popularity of the Academy Awards has increased as the years have passed.

The awards were the brainchild of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), formed in 1927. The AMPAS was created through collaborative effort of 36 most prominent individuals, who worked within the motion picture industry.

Film actor Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. was chosen as the first president of the Academy. The awards were established to honor the talented artists of the Motion Picture Industry. The first Academy Awards ceremony was held on May 16, 1929, at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. It was a very private affair, with only two hundred seventy people as guests. The awards were given in the banquet, set up at the hotel’s Blossom Room. The tickets for the guest tickets cost $5.

The first Oscar Ceremony consisted of the handing out of awards in 12 categories and two special honors.

The awards were meant to honor people responsible for cinematic achievements in 1927 and 1928. There was a very little element of surprise at the first Oscar Awards ceremony, as the names of the winners had been declared three months in advance. The entire affair was a lengthy one, filled with speeches. However, Douglas Fairbanks, the Academy President, moved things along as best he could, handing out the golden statues to the winners like a modern-day McDonalds Employee at the Drive-Thru Window.

Yes, boys and girls, once upon a time the Academy Awards celebrated individual achievement in the field of Professional Cinema.

LOS ANGELES — Confronting a fierce protest over a second straight year of all-white Oscar acting nominations, theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said on Friday that it would makeradical changes to its voting requirements, recruiting process and governing structure, with an aim toward increasing the diversity of its membership.

The changes were approved at an unusual special meeting of the group’s 51-member governing board Thursday night. The session ended with a unanimous vote to endorse the new processes, but action on possible changes to Oscar balloting was deferred for later consideration. The board said its goal was to double the number of female and minority members by 2020.

“The academy is going to lead and not wait for the industry to catch up,” the academy’s president, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, said in a statement. Ms. Isaacs referred to an often-repeated complaint that the academy, in its lack of diversity, reflects the demographics of a film industry that for years has been primarily white and male.

The most striking of the changes is a requirement that the voting status of both new and current members be reviewed every 10 years.

I wonder what the swashbuckling man’s man, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., would have thought about The bunch of no-talent crybabies who have politicized the award show that he worked so had to get off the ground?

He would probably echo the sentiments expressed by Veteran Actor and True Professional, Michael Caine.

Two-time Oscar-winning actor Michael Caine has weighed in on the Oscars diversity controversy, saying in a recent interview that while he personally believes that one black actor in particular should have been nominated at this year’s ceremony, “you can’t vote for an actor because he’s black.”

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has come under fire for nominating exclusively white actors in top acting categories at this year’s Oscars, marking a repeat of last year’s #OscarsSoWhite controversy. Filmmakers Spike Lee and Michael Moore and actors Will and Jada Pinkett Smith have vowed not to attend the February 28 ceremony in protest, while others have simply spoken out to denounce the Academy for the lack of diversity in its nominating process.

But in an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Nick Robinson, Caine said that the quality of a performance, rather than the color of an actors’ skin, is paramount when considering Oscar nominations.

“There’s loads of black actors,” the 82-year-old Youth star said. “You can’t vote for an actor because he’s black. You can’t just say, ‘I’m going to vote for him. He’s not very good, but he’s black. I’ll vote for him.’ You have to give a good performance.”

Caine, who has been nominated six times for Oscars and won twice, said that he thought Idris Elba would be nominated for his role as the sadistic Commandant in the Netflix war drama Beasts of No Nation. When Robinson pointed out that Elba wasn’t nominated this year, Caine demurred.

“Well, look at me,” Caine said. “I won the [European Film Award] for best actor, and I got nominated for nothing else.” Caine’s film Youth was nominated for just one Oscar, for Best Original Song.

Caine said the best advice he could give to minority actors is to “be patient.”

“Of course it will come,” he said. “It took me years to get an Oscar.”

Since the Academy announced its nominations last week, a slew of actors, actresses and producers have spoken out to blast the awards show for its lack of diversity, including David Oyelowo, George Clooney, Lupita Nyong’o, Dustin Hoffman and Mark Ruffalo. Straight Outta Compton executive producer Will Packer has called the lack of nominations for people of color a “complete embarrassment,” while the Rev. Al Sharpton has called for Americans nationwide to “tune out” of the broadcast in protest.

However, some have defended the Academy in the wake of the media firestorm.

In an interview with Variety, Boyz ‘N The Hood director John Singleton said that “there are only so many slots” for nominations, and those nominations will go to those films and performances that the Academy feels should be recognized. Singleton, who became the first African-American to earn a Best Director nomination for the 1991 film, said that the Academy’s nominating process is “almost like the lottery.”

“It’s like every year people complain,” the director said. “People even complain even when we have a lot of nominations. It is what is is. I’ve been in the game for 25 years. You never know – it’s the luck of the draw for you. To me, I’m not surprised. I’m not disappointed either, as much as other people are disappointed. There’s a whole elevation of work that happens.”

Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter on Friday, Oscar-winning Schindler’s List producer Gerald Molen also defended the Academy and called the growing boycott movement against the Oscars “ridiculous.” Molen said it would be tough to believe that Academy members are not voting for minority actors because of their skin color.

“In a liberal town like Hollywood, that makes about as much sense as saying all members of the Academy vote Republican,” he joked.

Hollywood can’t have a big night any more without pushing the Left Coast agenda. It isn’t always big name awardees that reflect a political view. The anti-God, anti-Christian “Golden Compass” took home a Visual Effects Oscar in 2008. The Tommy Lee Jones anti-Iraq War movie “In the Valley of Elah” didn’t even win, but it was honored just by being there. In 2003, many in the audience even gave a standing ovation when child rapist Roman Polanski won Best Director for “The Pianist.”

Sometimes, good movies win. The pro-life “Juno” won and even one of the pro-Christian Narnia movies got an Oscar for make-up. But those are the exceptions that prove the rule. And on Oscar night, the Hollywood left most certainly rules.

As always, the Academy will claim it’s giving us a feast of film, only it isn’t. It’s not even baloney. It’s just the rest of the bull.

So is Modern American Liberals’ battle cry of “Diversity!”

If they are truly “Champions of Diversity”, why are the Liberal Democrat Party’s leading Potential Presidential Candidates both old white folks from the Northeast?

Liberals have been acting for years as if they cherish Diversity for Diversity ‘ s sake.

Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast,To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak. – William Congreve (1670-1729)

Can music also bring out the evil in mankind, as well?

On Thanksgiving Day, as I was watching the Macy’s Parade with my family, I suddenly realized that I did not know any of the performers lip syncing their songs on the floats, except for Pat Benatar (bless her heart).

Additionally, I heard at least one song that was entirely inappropriate for that family-friendly, nationally-televised event.

What is going on with Pop Music?

John Stonestreet, writing for his website, breakpoint.org, posted the following article on November 12, 2015…

Good guys are out of style. If you’ve been to the movies any time in the last decade, you know that Hollywood has replaced the superheroes of yore with antiheroes—depressed, broody, supposedly “relatable” characters with a past. Whether it’s the angst-filled teenage protagonists of “Twilight” or a black-suited Spiderman doing Travolta’s Saturday Night Fever strut, it’s become almost cliché to bring our heroes down to our level rather than aspiring to theirs.

With a handful of exceptions like Marvel’s Captain America, the entertainment industry just doesn’t create uncomplicated, morally straight characters anymore. Even Superman recently got a makeover. Director Zack Snyder’s reboot offered us a troubled Clark Kent in a bleak, visually desaturated film where the Man of Steel doesn’t hesitate to kill. And the same holds true in pop music, where artists who once sang about falling in love now storm on stage and sing about wrecking their ex’s life.

A quick glance over YouTube’s top music videos reveals a wall of singers grimacing, glowering, and growling at us. Heavy eye-shadow, aggressive postures, black clothing, red smoke, sneering expressions make it look like these performers—many of them young women—want to mug us instead of entertain us. Writing at the Daily Mail, Jo Tweedy asks the obvious question: Why do all of these singers look so angry?

Whether it’s Beyonce’s now-infamous Super Bowl halftime performance or Miley Cyrus’ descent into “Wrecking Ball” wrath, these performers “prove that rage is very much all the rage for pop stars.”

But it’s probably Taylor Swift, the 25-year-old country singer who took the pop scene by storm a few years back, who best illustrates how angry modern music has actually become. Swift started out a few years ago writing songs about unrequited love and teardrops on guitars. But in more recent hits like “Blank Space,” “Shake it Off,” and “I Knew You Were Trouble,” the music icon tells haters and potential heartbreakers to back off. “Boys only want love if it’s torture,” she complains, and warns would-be suitors that she’s “got a blank space” on her “long list of ex-lovers,” and would be glad to write in their names.

And then there’s her biggest new hit, “Bad Blood,” a breakup number accompanied by an especially warlike music video that won the VMA’s top honor last year. It features guns, explosions, rocket-launchers, even mixed martial arts. I’m not kidding. Swift herself looks every bit as angry as the Amazon that she plays.

“So why does white hot anger seem to be such a big feature for today’s stars when they’re on stage?” asks Tweedy. One London pop choreographer answered: “…the anger is simply a way of getting noticed,” a way of “trying to stand out,” she said. “[It’s a way of] saying, ‘…you will book me for that next job.’”

So, no surprise, a lot of it comes back to marketing and publicity. We saw this with the release of “Fifty Shades of Grey,” that sexy has taken a sadomasochistic turn in order to sell more books and movies.

But what if there’s more to it than just marketing? In “The Screwtape Letters,” C.S. Lewis’ professorial devil offers advice on how to get humans, especially men, to confuse aggression for beauty.

“…the felt evil is what [the patient] wants,” he explains. “It is the visible animality or sulkiness, or craft, or cruelty which he likes,” and which “play[s] on the raw nerve of his private obsession.”

And I can’t help wondering if on another level all this bad blood is due to the sexual revolution itself. Could it be that some pop stars—especially women—really do resent the way the industry has objectified and turned them into sex symbols? Attempting to tether human dignity to sexual freedom leaves many feeling as if they must be sexually aggressive to be known, and others as if their value is secondary to other’s desires. Either way, it helps explain why pop culture seems to be popping a gasket lately.

I remember the summer after I graduated college in December 1980. I bought a brand new 1981 Mazda GLC, had a Pioneer Tape Deck installed to play in all four hidden door speakers (a big thing back then), bought a cassette tape of “The Beatles Love Songs”, and played it until the tape broke.

Music has always affected my life and played a major part. I sang in church choirs, leading services, singing in quartets, and solo, for over 30 years and have played acoustic rhythm guitar since the age of 19…a long time ago.

Music can indeed soothe us. It can inspire us…in both good ways and in bad.

It has the power to bring us to our knees in worship of the Living God…or make our hands “clinch in fisteous rage” (American Pie, Don Mclean)

It can advise us to “treat her like a lady” or find us hanging out, “down on Main Street”.

At this time in our country’s history, when morality has become relative and ethics situational, we find our souls crying out for soothing, but instead, we find Pop Music and “so-called” Country Music, actually manufactured in New York City (pronounced like they do in the Pace Salsa Commercials), advocating meaningless one-night stands and encouraging the debasement of the human soul, instead of its ability to rise above any obstacle in its path that might hinder individual achievement.

With all of today’s over-produced, under-written Pop and Country-Pop Music flooding the airwaves of both broadcast and satellite radio, Americans my age wonder where all the great songwriters have gone to?

Where are the “Good Vibrations” that the young people of this generation so desperately need?

Evidently, even though “We Didn’t Start The Fire”, we have left them “Sittin’ On The Dock of The Bay”.

I remember growing up in the 1960s, during the Cold War. Every news story that came out of Russia, through their state-controlled News Service, Pravda, was a lie. Lie after lie, told in such a brazen fashion, that if you did not have access to other news sources, you would have sworn it was the truth.

Every lie that was told, was told with the express purpose of masking the inner corruption of the Politboro, or Government, of the Soviet Union, which in turn was designed to reinforce the pablum that they fed their working-class citizens, or the Proletariat.

Since the ascent to the presidency of William Jefferson Blythe Clinton, thanks to the New Media, it has become more and more apparent that the United States of America has a Pravda of its own: The Main Stream Media.

Self-identified “Broadcast and Print Journalists” foresook the ideology of objectivity for subjectivity a long time ago. The main reason Americans began to notice was the advent of cable and satellite television, and, later, the World Wide Web.

In the past, the MSM would only interject themselves overtly, every now and then, as in the case of Dan Rather’s blatant falsification of George W. Bush’s National Guard Service Records in 2004.

In its failed attempt to validate discredited CBS reporting on President George W. Bush’s alleged preferential treatment in the Air National Guard during the Vietnam War, the new movie “Truth” is flopping at the box office and failing to convince viewers that news anchor Dan Rather got his facts straight.

Months before the 2004 presidential election, CBS’s “60 Minutes Wednesday” ran a story which claimed that Bush, the son of a congressman, was given special treatment during the Vietnam War. It alleged that Bush was taken into the Texas Air National Guard to avoid being sent to Vietnam, that he failed to complete his assignments and that he had been released early so that he could go to business school.

However, the report was based off National Guard documents and memos that were widely believed to be forgeries. As the narrative didn’t include opposing views concerning the documents, many believed the report was a partisan attempt to smear Bush and cost him re-election. The report ultimately resulted in the demise of Rather’s career and also cost producer Mary Mapes her job.

Based off of Mapes’ book Truth and Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power, the movie “Truth” was released in over 1,100 theatres in the U.S. last weekend. However, the film doesn’t settle the question of the documents’ authenticity and instead runs with the premise that even if the documents weren’t real, Bush was still given preferential treatment.

Although Sony Pictures Classic acquired a star-studded lineup — Robert Redford as Rather, Cate Blanchett as Mapes and Dennis Quaid as Colonel Roger Charles — the film has tanked thus far at box offices.

“Truth” was just the 16th highest-grossing movie of the weekend, earning a mere $875,935. Combined with proceeds from the previous two weeks when the movie was out on limited release, the film has grossed just $1,126,512 in the first three weeks since its release.

Additionally, moviegoers and critics have not been impressed with the film. An average of nearly 1,000 viewers on IMDb rated “Truth” with only a 5.9 out of 10, while Metacritic gave the movie a66 out of 100, Meanwhile, Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie a 58 percent.

With the film still relying on documents allegedly taken from the personal files of Bush’s commander, Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Killian — which typewriter and typography experts deemed to be forgeries — some critics claim the movie doesn’t have the right to call itself “Truth.”

“The movie came across as self-serving tripe, with the insulting audacity to call itself Truth. That’s the marketing equivalent [to] pissing in the audience’s ear, and telling them it’s raining,” one critic for The Rebel wrote. “Audiences don’t mind stupid movies as long as their entertaining, but they won’t pay to see a stupid movie that also calls them stupid.”

William Campenni, a retired engineer and 33-year Air Force/Air National Guard fighter pilot who served in the same unit as Bush, wrote a lengthy op-ed for The Daily Signal explaining how it’s impossible for the Killian documents to be anything more than fakes.

Campenni explained that he first came across the alleged Killian documents months before the CBS report when he stumbled on a blog called “The AWOL Project,” which was run by a Democratic activist from Philadelphia named Paul Lukasiak. He further explained that the blogger did “yeoman’s job in assembling released Bush Air Force records and relevant Air Force regulations.”

“He distorted and dissembled them to reach egregiously wrong conclusions to incriminate Bush,” Campenni asserted. “It was like examining the Old Testament in great detail and then concluding that Moses was an Egyptian who helped the Pharaoh cast the Jews into barren lands in some ancient holocaust.”

“Those of us who actually were in the Texas Air Guard quickly pointed out other discrepancies and impossibilities in the memos exclusive of the typos and fonts … wrong dates for exams; orders to report on a date the base was closed; use of outdated serial numbers; and our personal knowledge of Jerry Killian, his actions, and his behaviors, which conclusively flagged these memos as sick frauds,” Campenni wrote.

The Liberals who run “Hollyweird” are totally disconnected from the average American’s belief system of ethics, values, and faith.

All of the great movies and television shows my generation watched while we were growing up, reinforced those values.

We knew that the Lone Ranger and Tonto would beat the snot out of the bad guys, and rescue the rancher’s daughter. We knew that James Bond would defeat SPECTRE and get the beautiful Bond Girl.

We smiled in admiration when we heard that Superman fought for “Truth, Justice, and the American Way”. We threw our rubber tomahawks at the trees in our front yards, just like “Daniel Boone”. We knew that John Wayne would rescue Dean Martin in “Rio Bravo”.

And, all the guys in the 1970s wanted a red Gran Torino with a white stripe down the side, just like “Starsky and Hutch” drove.

You want to know why Americans go to see the Marvel-produced Superhero Movies and movies like the new James Bond Film, “SPECTRE”, which had a $75 million weekend?

They are throwbacks. They are entertaining. There is plenty of action with a great story line wrapped around it, and GOOD TRIUMPHS OVER EVIL.

We go to movies to be entertained, not to be lectured to by a bunch of snotty-nosed, America-hating, relative morality, situational ethics-loving Liberals.

Americans have to deal with enough ugliness trying to survive under the harsh reality of America under Obama.

And, the overwhelming majority of us knew that Dan Rather and his crew at CBS were a bunch a lying weasels, back in 2004, when they tried to discredit

President Bush, and stop his re-election, by any means necessary.

Like what Politico tried to do to Dr. Ben Carson last week.

But, I digress…

Americans have to pick and choose very carefully the movies they go to, simply due to the high price of tickets, refreshments, and gasoline and Obama’s stagnant economy.

There is a reason that Redbox is so popular.

Once again, in the case of the ironically-named movie “Truth”, Liberals overestimated their popularity among average Americans.

So, here we are, September 7th, Labor Day, 2015…and there is a huge gap in today’s television programming.

In what has become a metaphor for Modern American Society, a Labor Day Tradition of almost 50 years, has been tossed aside, having been deemed to have “outlived its usefulness”, shortly following the disrespectful and dishonorable discarding of its creator.

For 45 years, American families would, while spending time together, watch the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon. The telethon would begin on Sunday Evening and continue for 21 1/2 hours, ending on Monday evening at 5:00 p.m. Central. Co-hosted in later years by Ed McMahon and Norm Crosby, stars of stage, screen, and television would appear, alongside corporate executives, all there to raise money for “Jerry’s Kids”.

And, when I say “stars”, I mean STARS.

Jerry’s good friend, Sammy Davis, Jr. would come on every year, on Monday afternoon, and do a solid 30 minutes of entertaining., usually badgering Jerry, until he would come out and do a couple of songs with him, usually ending in a tap dance “challenge”.

Mr. Las Vegas himself, Wayne Newton, would come on after that and bring down the house, with several high energy numbers, wearing his huge American Eagle Belt Buckle, and “TCB” Necklace, which Elvis Presley gave him as a sign of friendship and respect.

Speaking of the King, while Elvis did not appear live every year, usually, also sometime Monday Afternoon, Ed McMahon would say,

Jerry, we just received a call from Graceland.

Which meant that Elvis. known throughout my hometown of Memphis for his great generosity, had just phoned in a huge donation.

Perhaps, one of the most poignant moments in the history of the telethon came when the Chairman of the Board, Francis Albert Sinatra, showed up. Frank told Jerry that he had brought a friend with him and asked him to come out. That friend was Jerry’s ex-partner, Dean Martin. The two had been estranged for years. Jerry became emotional. He hugged Dino, and, when everyone became silent, he asked,

So, you been working?

4 years ago, after 45 years of magnanimous service, raising untold millions for the MDA, the 85 year old Lewis was cruelly and unceremoniously dumped. In fact, the MDA did not even have the guts to tell Jerry Lewis that they dumped him!

In 2013, before the 2012 MDA Program, showbiz411.com posted this report about the results of the 201 trimmed-down “telethon”,

The 2011 telethon, shrunk to six hours from 21, was ghastly. When it was over MDA trumpeted that they’d made $61 million– up 4 percent from the prior year when Lewis was at the helm. MDA boasted it did better without Jerry.

Alas, it wasn’t true. MDA has just posted its 2011 federal tax form 990 on its website and this tells a much different story. MDA was only able to collect $31 million of that much publicized amount. Without Jerry Lewis to cajole or persuade or inveigle, exactly half the amount came in that was promised by the public. Whether people simply reneged, or never actually pledged that amount at all, remains to be seen.

MDA will argue this happens every year: the tote board total is never what actually comes in. But in 2010, MDA crowed about $58 million at the end of the telethon with Jerry; $48 million came in. In 2009, the first telethon after the recession, the shortfall was about $15 million–$60 million announced, $45 million arrived.

For last year, MDA lists gross receipts from the first non Jerry Lewis telethon at $30,683,816. The charitable contribution portion was 18,059,876 . This left a gross income of $12,623,940.

A 50% shortfall is unprecedented. Because of it, the Form 990 shows a running $30 million loss or more in all categories stated on the MDA return from the beginning of 2011 to the end. Net assets and fund balances seem severely depleted.

And public support dropped overall, not just with the Telethon. In 2010, MDA claimed it received over $174 million in gifts and grants (including the telethon). In 2011, there was a big drop: the number was only $157 million.

Even more disturbing: revenue less expenses left MDA in the red for 2011 at $19 million.

MDA’s now deposed CEO, the man who got rid of Lewis, Gerald C. Weinberg, still pulled down his nearly $400K a year salary in 2011, which he’d been making fo years. The top staff at MDA all make decent six figure salaries as well. Weinberg and most of that staff are no longer working at MDA.

To be fair: MDA divides up the millions that do come in to dozens of worthy hospitals, universities, research programs, and facilities. The halved $61 million is still a sizeable chunk for these donation-starved groups. However: without the bad publicity and the controversy around Jerry Lewis, MDA might have been able to collect a higher percentage of pledges which would have benefited these groups even more.

Something happened at MDA in 2011 that’s never quite been explained. They committed a kind of hari-kari, taking an established brand and flushing it down the toilet. On Sunday night, the so-called remnants of the annual telethon are down to three hours. Almost everything is pre-taped except for local cut ins. The acts have no relationship to the history of the MDA.

Because it’s taped, there will be no drama to see if they can top last year. Of course, last year doesn’t really exist since the actually collected $31 million is far below the amounts from preceding years.

In 2012, the MDA Program was renamed the “MDA Show of Strength”. It was scaled down to a 3 hour program, featuring mostly pre-taped segments.

MDA, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, today announced that the new realities of television viewing and philanthropic giving have made this the right time for the organization to move beyond its historic Labor Day telethon. It will discontinue production of a broadcast telethon effective this year.

Julie Rhoad, mom of two boys with muscular dystrophy, speaks from her heart to the 2008 Telethon audience about the tough challenges faced by MDA families. Host Jerry Lewis offers emotional support.

MDA plans to invest more in digital and mobile channels for consumer engagement and activation. The organization will continue to share the inspirational stories of MDA families on Labor Day and throughout the year via digital channels as part of an emerging year-round plan to revitalize its brand, connect with donors more frequently, strengthen family support, and attract and recognize sponsors in new ways.

“The decision to end our beloved telethon was not made lightly,” said MDA President and CEO Steven M. Derks. “In the last few years, the show was adjusted to reflect changes in viewership and donor patterns, and last summer’s Ice Bucket Challenge once again affirmed for us that today’s families, donors and sponsors are looking to us for new, creative and organic ways to support our mission.”

The first telethon aired in 1956 and has attracted America’s most famous celebrities over the years, none more prominent than the legendary Jerry Lewis, who emceed the event through 2010. For decades, the telethon was instrumental in raising awareness and donations to save and improve the lives of kids and adults fighting muscular dystrophy, ALS and other life-threatening diseases that severely limit muscle strength and mobility.

Frank Sinatra orchestrated one of the most surprising and touching moments in television history when he reunited estranged partners Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis on the 1976 Telethon.

MDA will transition from the television-based telethon, most recently named the “MDA Show of Strength Telethon,” to personal shows of strength, building on its rich tradition around consumer activation and compelling stories that inspire, entertain, and most importantly, incite urgent action.

“We have ambitious plans to leverage our history, the compelling stories of our families and our record of innovation — just like we did decades ago when we introduced the telethon and cause-marketing for nonprofit organizations — as we continue to use creative ways to connect with supporters and deliver more value for our sponsors, never forgetting the families who are at the very heart of our mission,” Derks said.

After MDA gave Lewis the Fickle Finger of Fate, they continued to insist

We honor Jerry Lewis, we admire the work he’s done for us, and we respect his decision to retire.

That particular quote came from Valerie Cwik, the MDA’s interim president, at the time. She replaced Gerald Weinberg, who was reportedly behind Lewis’s ouster and who stepped down as president, after 54 years with the organization.

She made the lame argument that the changes in the telethon were part of a necessary evolution in fundraising strategy, to put less emphasis on the once-a-year event.

It has to change because the American audience has changed. A 21.5-hour show doesn’t fit in a 140-character world.

I swear, “The Smartest People in the Room”. a.k.a., Modern American Liberals, screw up everything.

Okay. I know that Lewis had a reputation as an ego-maniacal pain-in-the-rear to work with, but, these were people’s lives that the MDA was messing with. It could have, and should have, been handled differently.

However, Jerry Lewis also devoted over half his life for “his kids”, visiting them in hospitals around the nation, with no cameras around, and calling and visiting Corporate CEOs and A-List Celebrities, getting them to help him raise money for those kids and adults struck down by these debilitating Muscular Disorders.

It showed no respect whatsoever.

What happened to Jerry Lewis, seems to be happening to American Society in general.

This lack of respect seems to be an epidemic in this country. In the workplace, I have noticed that there sure does seem to be a lot of “millennials” who have no respect whatsoever for decorum, their co-workers, or authority.

Now, I may just be a 56 year old fuddy-duddy Cracka, but I have no desire to see your brand new shoulder tattoo in the business office, ladies…nor your neck tattoo with Pookie’s name on it, young Skillet.

And, when older folks in your place of business try to tell you how the world works, kiddies, you had better listen to us. We’re trying to help.

This is real life. You’re not playing “World of Warcraft” or “Final Fantasy”. People’s families depend on their paycheck. And, when you do not “pull your weight” at your job, you affect everyone’s incomes.

As the MDA learned the hard way, the “young and culturally hip” are usually not as reliable as the “experienced and professional”.

Of course, as it always has been…some folks have to learn things the hard way.

And, that’s when they find out that they are not as smart as they think they are.

Caitlyn Jenner could face a manslaughter charge following her car accident in Malibu earlier this year that left one dead.

“The case will be submitted to the district attorney next week,” Lt. Shaun Mathers of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.

Detectives are set to present evidence to the prosecution that could lead to a misdemeanor manslaughter charge against Jenner. Because there’s “nothing really egregious” in the case, Det. Richard Curry of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Dept. said there’s a “50/50” chance that she will be charged.

A misdemeanor manslaughter charge usually carries a one-year jail sentence.Jenner was driving down Pacific Coast Highway at an unsafe speed on February 7 when her Escalade hit another car, causing a chain-reaction crash. Det. Curry said her violation of the vehicular manslaughter law ultimately led to a death.

Although Jenner was not speeding, she was driving at an speed considered unsafe considering the day’s road conditions.

According to authorities, Kim Howe’s Lexus rear-ended Jessica Steindorff’s Toyota Prius and Jenner’s Escalade rear-ended Howe’s car, pushing it into oncoming traffic near Corral Canyon Road. A Hummer then struck Howe’s Lexus, causing her to die at the scene.

Steindorff and Howe’s families separately sued Jenner, claiming that her negligent actions sparked the fatal crash. Steindorff alleges that she suffered more than $25,000 in damages.

Detectives will also present evidence against Steindorff as well, as she was driving on a suspended license at the time.

When Jenner first announced that he/she/it was “transgendered”, Liberal Pundits and the Main Stream Media hailed the Former Olympic Decathlon Winner as a “hero”.

Bruce Jenner is no hero. For that matter, neither is Caitlin, his alter ego.

The Old Timers would have called him a “Glory Hound”.

My late Daddy would have been very confused, as he was in the middle of Old Country Buffet, in his late 70s, one night at dinner, when my sister and I told him that the person that he saw bussing the table in front of us was not really a girl, but a guy, because you could tell by the Adam’s apple. In response, he declared loudly,

That can’t be a guy. He’s got headlights!

Back in his day, the “King of the Humbugs”, PT Barnum, would have offered Jenner money to be a sideshow attraction.

For the past five years of writing this blog, I have been pointing out how our nation has been traveling sown the Slippery Slope of Relative Morality and Situational Ethics. And, how this country seems to have resigned itself to the notion that “whatever gets you through the night…it’s alright…it’s alright”, as the late John Lennon sang.

However, where does “self-realization” end and honesty and simply being a good person begin?

Is Bruce…Caitlin…Whatever…Jenner being true to him/her self themselves or to his pocketbook?

Or, is he just “Mentally Irregular”?

With those questions in mind, sitting here on a hot Saturday Morning in Dixie, earlier this summer, I put fingers to keyboard, and came up with this little ditty.

Everybody sing…

WEIRDO (Sung to the tune of “Lola” by the Kinks)

“I saw her in the paper just the other day
She was on the front cover and certainly did look weirdo…
W-e-i-r-d-o
Her picture looked so familiar to me
Didn’t I see her on a box of Wheaties?
Wheaties W-h-e-a-t-i-e Wheaties…

Now, that threw me and I wasn’t sure
But, wasn’t she a guy and now she’s a girl?
Oh how weirdo wa-wa-wa-wa weirdo
Well I’m not dumb but I can’t understand
Why she looks like a woman, but lusts like a man
Ol’ Bruce Jenner…J-e-n-n-e-r…Jenner…

Here in the Home of the Brave and the Land of the Free,We can be anything that we want to be,
For wealth or fame or pride or money
We can even change from a dude to a honey

Is it identity or fame?
Either way, it’s so lame
His inner “woman” came out
Please put “her” back in
I can’t look anymore…I may throw up

Well that’s the way that this story goes
I still think that “her” story blows. Ol’ Bruce Jenner
Ja-ja-ja-ja Jenner
Bruce was a boy and now he’s a girl
Was it for contentment or his pocketbook?
Ja-ja-ja-ja Jenner

And, now we have another weirdo hack
Her folks say she’s white, but she says she’s black
I guess this weirdness goes all the way to Spokane
Now, the N-double A-C-P will never be the same again

Well I sure do miss the Good Ol’ Days
When the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave
Was not so weirdo
Wa-wa-wa-wa weirdo Wa-wa-wa-wa weirdo
Wa-wa-wa-wa weirdo Weirdo Wa-wa-wa-wa weirdo…”

In conclusion, in my opinion, Bruce “Caitlin” Jenner is not that brave.

D-Day, also called the Battle of Normandy, was fought on June 6, 1944, between the Allied nations and German forces occupying Western Europe. To this day, 70 years later, it still remains the largest seaborne invasion in history. Almost three million troops crossed the English Channel from England to Normandy to be used as human cannon fodder in an invasion of occupied France.

Among the young men who stepped off those boats, in a hail of gunfire, was a fellow named Edward, whom everyone called Ned, from the small town of Helena, Arkansas. Already in his young life, Ned had been forced to drop out of school in the sixth grade, in order to work at the local movie theatre to help support his mother, brother, and sister, faced with the ravages of the Great Depression.

He later went on to help build the US Highway 49 Helena Bridge across the Mississippi River.

He was a gentle man who loved to laugh and sing, having recorded several 78 rpm records in the do-it-yourself booths of the day. And now, he found himself, a Master Sergeant in an Army Engineering Unit, stepping off a boat into the unknown, watching his comrades being mercilessly gunned down around him.

Ned, along with the rest of his unit who survived the initial assault, would go on to assist in the cleaning out of the Concentration Camps, bearing witness to man’s inhumanity to man.

The horrors he saw had a profound effect on Ned. One which he would keep to himself for the remainder of his life. While his children knew that he served with an Engineering Unit in World War II, they did not know the full extent of his service, until they found his medal, honoring his participation in the Invasion of Normandy, going through his belongings, after he passed away on December 29, 1997.

He was my Daddy.

Today, all across the world, Fathers will be honored by their children, natural, adopted, foster, and those that they took in as one of their own.

Did you ever wonder how this Global Remembrance got started?

There are two stories which are attributed as being the origin of Father’s Day.

According to the first tale, it all began in 1910, when Sonora Smart-Dodd of Spokane, Washington, tried to figure out a way in which to honor her dad, a remarkable man, who had single-handedly raised six children. Sonora, naturally, loved her dad with all her heart, and wanted everyone to recognize him for what he had done for her entire family. She made the decision to declare day of tribute, a Father’s Day, if you will, on her father’s birthday – June 19.

The next year, Sonora contacted the local churches in an attempt to get them to throw their support behind the celebration, but they simply laughed her off. After that setback, it took a while before Sonora’s proposal once again started gaining attention.

A bill in support of a national remembrance of Father’s Day was introduced in 1913. The bill was approved by US President Woodrow Wilson three years later. The bill received further support from President Calvin Coolidge in 1924.

This brought about the formation of a National Father’s Day Committee in New York within the next two years. However, our Federal Government, not exactly being strong in the pursuit alacrity, took another 30 years before a Joint Resolution of Congress officially recognized Father’s Day. Then, implementation of the bill was postponed another 16 years until President Richard Nixon declared third Sunday of June as Father’s Day in 1972.

The second story of the origin of Father’s Day involves Dr. Robert Webb of West Virginia. According to this version, the first Father’s Day service was conducted by Webb at the Central Church of Fairmont in 1908.

Around my house, we always thought that Hallmark and Walmart invented it.

Like you other fathers out there, I was asked what I want for my Father’s Day Gift, today.

The one present I want…I can’t have.

I wish that I had one more day with my Daddy.

My Daddy was the most important man in my life, and remains so to this day.

He taught me how to love others, through his actions, every day of his life. He was a wonderful Christian man, who led me to Christ.

He was also the bravest man I have ever known, landing at Normandy Beach on D-Day.

My Daddy worked hard all of his life. He worked for Sears for 20 years. He taught me what hard work was, and yet, he always had time for me.

I wish that I had one more day to walk through Court Square Park in Memphis, Tennessee feeding the pigeons and the squirrels with my Daddy.

I wish that I had another opportunity to sit on the living room floor at Christmas and play Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots with him.

I wish that I had another chance to stand over to the side on Thanksgiving Afternoon and watch him, as he played Penny-ante Poker, “cutting up” with my mother and my aunts and uncles.

I wish that I could hear him singing “The Old Rugged Cross” in the kitchen again, with his beautiful tenor voice.

I wish that I could watch him again, sitting at the breakfast table simultaneously looking through his old Cokesbury Hymnbook and his Book on Hymnology, researching those great old hymns and making notes, so that he could tell his 150 member Sunday School Class about the hymn, which he was going to lead them in singing that Sunday Morning.

I wish that I could watch my Daddy playing with my little daughter again, sticking out the lower plate of his dentures, as she tries to grab it.

I wish that I could see them again out in the driveway, sitting in his 1978 Chevrolet Caprice Classic, with her in the driver’s seat, as they waited for the school bus to pick her up for pre-school.

I wish that I could spend another Christmas Morning with him, to watch the fun, as he gave my sister her yearly “gag gift”, just to watch her jump and squeal as the “snake” or “mouse” jumped out of the box.

I wish that I could sit and watch Saturday Morning Memphis Wrestling and then, another Johnny Weissmuller “Tarzan” movie with him on a Saturday afternoon…or, maybe a Three Stooges Short, just to hear him laugh.

It’s funny, y’know.

I look in the mirror at 56 years old…and, I see him.

I look back over the years at the things that I did with the children that God brought into my life to care for, and then, I see the things I’m doing now with my 7-year-old grandson, and I see my Daddy in myself.

Right now, in America, it is harder than ever to be a Dad. Any male, who is not impotent, can sire a child…as is being proven daily across our country.

However, it takes a man to be a Daddy, a Papa, a Pop, a Pops, somebody’s Old Man, or, simply, a Father.

I’ve had the privilege of having a hand in raising three step-sons, one nephew, and one very special daughter. I would not give back one moment of those experiences for anything that this world can offer.

I was not a perfect role model. I made mistakes…a lot of them. But, looking back, I know, in my heart, that I’ve made a difference in their lives. And, I thank the One Who Made Me for that opportunity.

I pray that I was able to pass along at least some of my Daddy’s Legacy of Christian Love to those I have had a hand in raising.

Dads…it costs nothing to pay attention….and give love.

Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it. – Proverbs 22:6

Daddy, I wish you were here so I could tell you how much I love you and miss you.

I hope you’re proud of me.

Every good thing that I am, came from the life lessons which I learned from you, and the Love and Amazing Grace of my Heavenly Father.

Several years ago, as I was applying for a job as the manager of a gas station, which also sold fried chicken, like every other candidate, I was handed a questionnaire to fill out.

Now, this was a standard questionnaire. It was like every other one that I had seen, except it was around 32 pages long. Or, at least it seemed to be.

One of the questions on that long, long form, asked me who did I consider to be my “hero”.

That took me aback for a moment, and then, I answered, Jesus Christ.

A “hero”, by definition, is someone who does something out of the ordinary, or takes extraordinary measures, to save lives, and/or make the world a better place to live in.

Of course, I did not get the job, as I probably freaked them out. But, I was being totally honest, as Jesus Christ is not only my personal Savior, but he is my Hero, for saving me.

That same Amazing Grace is no less available for Bruce Jenner.

Now, from the sublime to the ridiculous…

I, like you, have been inundated over the last several days, with news story after news story about the transformation of an Olympic Decathlon Gold Medal Winner , into American Popular Culture’s “Brave New Hero…err…Heroine…err…Transvestite”.

Ohhh…forget it.

Quite frankly, when Bruce Jenner won the 1976 Olympic Decathlon, he became a hero to a lot of American boys. His sudden fame, as everyone knows, got him on a box of Wheaties, got him television appearances, and even got him a movie role, starring in that awful Village People movie, “You Can’t Stop the Music”, which actually turned out to be an ironic title for that movie, because that catastrophe of a cinematic experience, almost single-handedly stopped the Disco era.

But, I digress…

Jenner once again became a celebrity in the last several years through his marriage to the matriarch of the Kardashian Clan, Kris, which, in turn, spawned a trainwreck of a television series titled, “Kepping Up With the Kardashians”, a series which followed the trials and tribulations of the blended family of the Kardashians and the Jenners.

Women tuned in to the series, because, somehow, they escaped their hum-drum lives by empathizing with the out-of-control, self-gratifying, hedonistic lifestyles of the Kardashians and Jenners.

Plus, their mates got to see the Kardashian sisters nekkid (as Jeff Foxworthy would say) on a regular basis…or, at least as much as television allows nowadays.

Eventually, though, all “good” things must come to an end, and so it was with Bruce Jenner’s marriage to Kris Kardashian.

As they did all during the television series, the paparazzi followed Bruce, after the divorce, wherever he went.

Finally, the gossip television shows and websites trumpeted that Bruce Jenner was going to have a sex change, and that the masculine image, which the Olympic Decathlon Winner had shown the public all these years, was nothing but a mask, and that there was a woman inside of Bruce Jenner that just had to get out.

I wish she had stayed in there.

“Caitlin” Jenner made her triumphant appearance on this month’s cover of Vanity Fair magazine, featuring him/ her/it in a white dress with makeup on, showing off some newly-installed cleavage.

A publicity stunt, which both of paparazzi and all those on the Left Side of the Political Aisle, immediately hailed as bold, brilliant, and heroic.

Are you kidding me?

As I stated before, a hero is someone who does something to save somebody’s life or lives and/or to make the world better.

A hero does not do something for money or publicity, which is why I think that Jenner pulled this stunt, quite honestly.

He knew that Liberals would jump on this like ugly on an ape….and, he is reaping the benefits of his renewed celebrity status, both monetarily and egotistically.

Additionally, he has now become the poster boy… err.. girl for the latest cause celebre, LGBT Rights.

Bruce Jenner is no hero. For that matter, neither is Caitlin, his alter ego.

The Old Timers would have called him a “Glory Hound”.

My late Daddy would have been very confused, as he was in the middle of Old Country Buffet, in his late 70s, one night at dinner, when my sister and I told him that the person that he saw bussing the table in front of us was not really a girl, but a guy, because you could tell by the Adam’s apple. In response, he declared loudly,

That can’t be a guy. He’s got headlights!

Back in his day, the “King of the Humbugs”, PT Barnum, would have offered Jenner money to be a sideshow attraction.

Come to think of it… that’s exactly what Vanity Fair did.

In conclusion, in my opinion, Bruce “Caitlin” Jenner is not that brave.

Deuteronomy 5:9b-10 states, “I do not leave unpunished the sins of those who hate me, but I punish the children for the sins of their parents to the third and fourth generations. But I lavish love on those who love me and obey my commands, even for a thousand generations.” (NLT)

How it works. When a person has sinned, that sin stands in need of being confessed. If the person doesn’t confess it, then his children must confess it in order to break the generational pattern. Like an “outstanding” debt, the person’s sin “hangs out there,” impacting his descendants, until it is addressed through confession and cleared away. We are not required to take responsibility for our ancestors’ sins, but we are to acknowledge and confess their sin. (We agree with God that they were wrong and that God was right.) God asks us to accept responsibility for our own sin and to repent and be humbled. Understand that the passing down of iniquity (sin) is just that – the passing down of iniquity (sin). My parents’ sin does not become my sin, until I have made the choice to sin myself in the same way.

The daughter of late pop queen Whitney Houston was found unconscious in a bathtub at her Georgia home Saturday — nearly three years after her mom died tragically in a tub in a Los Angeles hotel.

Bobbi Kristina Brown was clinging to life after apparently suffering a drug overdose, just as her mother had, “Entertainment Tonight’’ reported, quoting a source who insisted it was not a suicide attempt.

Whitney Houston accidentally drowned in a bathtub inside the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Feb. 11, 2012, with cocaine, Xanax, marijuana and muscle relaxant in her system.

A second source told the magazine it was “no coincidence’’ that the 21-year-old aspiring singer was found in eerily similar circumstances.

Brown’s husband, Nick Gordon, and a friend found her underwater in her home in the Atlanta suburb of Roswell, Ga., and administered CPR until help arrived.

Paramedics took her to a local hospital, where she was in a medically induced coma and breathing with the assistance of a ventilator, police sources said.

Brown’s father, R&B singer Bobby Brown, was at her bedside Saturday.

Brown had recently hinted at wanting to pursue her own music career.

“Promise to release some thangs for your enjoyment. . . One thing you CAN depend on is my mother taught me well,” she tweeted.

On Thursday, she added: “Let’s start this career up&&moving OUT to TO YOU ALLLL quick shall we!?!???!!!!!!!!” along with several music emojis.

She also appeared on the Lifetime reality show “The Houstons: On Our Own” in 2012. She inherited millions of dollars from Houston.

Nick Gordon and Bobbi Kristina BrownPhoto: ZumaPress

But Brown was battling demons of her own.

On her 18th birthday — as well as after Houston’s funeral — she was accused of doing cocaine, the Daily Mail has reported.

Months after Houston’s death, she got engaged to Gordon, whom Houston raised with Brown as an adopted brother.

But her family criticized the relationship, with grandmother Cissy Houston calling it “incestuous.”

And in November 2012, she was busted for speeding after slamming her Chevy Camaro into an embankment in Alpharetta, Ga.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, having a parent who is addicted to drugs or alcohol can lead to lifelong problems if the child or teen doesn’t receive help and support.

About 25 percent of U.S. children younger than 18 years are exposed to alcohol abuse or dependence through a family member, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Exposure to drug abuse affects countless others.

More Likely to Become Addicts ThemselvesResearch shows that these children are more likely to develop depression and anxiety disorders during their teen years. And the likelihood that they will use drugs or alcohol early, and – for both genetic and environmental reasons – become addicted to these substances, is higher than those who do not grow up in these environments. In fact, this population is at the highest risk to become drug and alcohol abusers, according to the National Association for Children of Alcoholics.

Foster Care, the Juvenile Justice System, and TherapyChildren of addicted parents are also more likely to end up in foster care, the juvenile justice system, and – once they reach adulthood – therapy for mental health disorders, marital problems, and trouble parenting their own children.

Addicted parents often lack the ability to provide structure or discipline within their families, according to the National Association for Children of Alcoholics. They also tend to be less patient and to expect more from their children than do non-substance-abusing parents.

Child AbuseThe majority of child welfare professionals report that substance abuse is a factor in at least half of all child abuse cases. More than one-third of these workers say it contributes to at least 75 percent of the cases.

In today’s culture, more and more young people, usually raised in non-Christian Homes, and identifying themselves as “libertarians”, espouse the view, as frequently seen in their posts on Facebook, that drugs should be legalized., and the use of them has no effect on anybody but the user themselves.

And, they are very, very wrong.

Whether you are a Christian or not, one fact is certain, as study after study shows, parents are role models for their children, right or wrong.

If they see you drinking around them, they are more likely to take up drinking.

If they see you using drugs, including smoking pot, they will be more likely to model that behavior, as they get older.

I have always observed that alcoholics and addicts are very selfish people, consumed by a very selfish behavior.

This selfish behavior consumes them to the point where it becomes the priority in their life, requiring more attention that anything else in it, including their children.

In the case of Bobbi, now on Life Support, her self-involved parents, Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown, failed her.

Their sin became “Generational”, when she adopted their lifestyle of drug and alcohol abuse.

God’s Word admonishes us, as parents, to

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.- Proverbs 22:6 (KJV)

If her parents had changed their lifestyle and publicly repented of their drug and alcohol abuse, perhaps Bobbi would not be lying in that Hospital Bed, floating between here and the Afterlife.

And, perhaps her mother would be standing with her father, guiding her in “the way in which she should go”.

Actions have consequences…to more than just the individual acting irresponsibly.